History of England 2 3301-L1HEW2
An outline survey of the history of modern England, with particular attention paid to social and cultural developments. The course begins with a review of the geographical and economic conditions and examines in detail the period from 1485 to 1945 within the following framework, treated chronologically: changes in patterns of agriculture, manufacture and commerce; rural England: the agricultural labourer, domestic service; urbanisation, particularly in the period from 1780; the impact of changes in transport and communications; local government structures and community organisation; the growth of the middle classes and middle-class life styles and demands; the standard of living and housing of the labouring classes; self-help, self-association, Luddism, the growth of trade unions; social reform movements from the late 18th century, including the Methodist movement, Temperance, the anti-slavery campaign; the development of public education from 1870, developments in higher education; changing patterns of crime and punishment; the development of welfare provisions, particularly from 1834; political structures from the Elizabethan parliament through to the parliamentary reform movements of the 19th century; overseas expansion, the growth of Empire and the two world wars.
The themes examined in this context are: shifting balances of wealth and power, land versus money; the relative significance of the urban and the rural; the impact of material progress, housing, medicine; relations between rulers and ruled, attitudes to authority, ideologies of collectivism and individualism; religious belief and ideology; ideas of nation, nationalism, attitudes to the outside world and Empire; senses of the centre and periphery, regionalism and centralising tendencies; attitudes to crime and punishment; war and peace; sex, gender, family and the community; education; leisure, recreation and sport; attitudes to the past.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
The graduate has familiarity with:
K_W06 complexity and pluralism of cultures, as well as the historical and institutional conditions of culture, especially in relation to Great Britain and English speaking countries, at an advanced level
Abilities
The graduate is able to:
K_U06 recognize and describe at an advanced level the complexity and pluralism of cultures, as well as the historical and
institutional conditions of culture, especially in relation to Great Britain and English speaking countries
Assessment criteria
Written examination assessed on the basis of:
1. knowledge about the social, cultural and political history of England;
2. ability to present ideas and interpretations clearly and logically.
Bibliography
Kenneth O. Morgan (ed.) Oxford History of Britain, OUP, 2001:
- John Guy, John Morrill, The Tudors and Stuarts.
- Paul Langford, Christopher Harvie, The Eighteenth Century and the Age of Industry.
- H.C.G. Matthew, Kenneth O. Morgan, The Modern Age.
"Pelican History of England" series:
- S.T. Bindoff, Tudor England.
- Maurice Ashley, England in the Seventeenth Century.
- J.H. Plumb, England in the Eighteenth Century.
- David Thomson, England in the Nineteenth Century.
- David Thomson, England in the Twentieth Century.
Asa Briggs, A Social History of England, Penguin 1986.
Henryk Zins, Historia Anglii, Ossolineum, 2001.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: